Machida is definetly technical but as you guys mentioned he doesn't have alot of KO power. But to me it looks like his opponents are afraid of getting hit by him. We'll see how he does when he faces someone who isn't afraid of being punched in the face.

The street argument is retarded. BJJ is so much overkill for the street that its ridiculous. Unless you're the idiot that picks a fight with the high school wrestling team, barring knife or gun play, the opponent shouldn't make it past double leg + ground and pound - Osiris

I'm not being rhetorical, this is a genuine n00b-question: what distinguishes all "Karate fighters" from other fighters?

If--just hypothetically--I had a background in full-contact-bareknuckle Karate in the 70s, with Kyokushin and Daido-Juku (Kyokushin plus Judo) added in the 90s, would I fight like the Shotokan guys up the street (none of whom fight like Machida) or the GoJu guys down the steet, who never seem to do anything unless it's in Sanchin or Horse stance?

We're all supposedly doing Karate. Which--translated--means we aren't carrying anything in our hands while we do most of our training (unless you go for that idiotic 'China-hands' transliteration).

Other than that, ****-all else in common...which is what you get with a nebulous, generic term like "Karate". Might as well just call it "Pummelling, done more realistically by some than by others."

My noob reply would be that it's right there in your post. Karate is anything that isn't Muay Thai, Boxing or sloppy grappler punching.
It is a good point though that it's probably alot better to call Lyoto Shotokan rather than Karate.